Political Insider: It's over for Bayonne Mayor Smith

There’s so much blood in the water after the Bayonne election yesterday that you can assume Mayor Mark Smith is dead.

Was that frank enough for you? OK, how about the obvious? The results were a runoff between Smith and Police Capt. Jimmy Davis. It was also not thumbs up for any candidate but rather a rejection of the Smith administration.

From another point of view, let’s just call the campaign by the incumbent one of the biggest disasters in the city’s history. Think about it. While Smith was spending hundreds of thousands, Davis had virtually no cash and failed to do any mailings but still put himself in position to become mayor – and probably take every City Council seat.

Davis can thank his councilman at large candidate, former Hudson County Sheriff Juan Perez for delivering the Hispanic vote. Perez can now dream about the 31st District Assembly seat.

Keeping in theme, sharks – insurance agents, law firms, accountants and other vendors who can avoid a bidding process – will target the only runoff race in the region for a good old fashion feeding frenzy. Davis’ campaign coffers should get filled. Things are looking bleak for the Secaucus law firm of Chasan Leyner & Lamparello, as in Ralph Lamparello, a piece on the North Bergen Mayor and state Sen. Nick Sacco’s chess board.

This is not to say the runoff will be an easy dog paddle to shore. Harold “Bud” Demellier, who helped steer Smith’s ship into the rocks (We’re talking Bayonne, Bayonne Bud!) promised Smith’s supporters that they will work hard for the present and “future mayor,” at the postmortem celebration at the Chandelier last night.

I already spelled out the obvious classic mistakes, yesterday. For new readers, let’s say that it was insane to think Smith could get a contract with the teachers’ union, after the educators have gone about five years without one. He pushed for vacancy decontrol and let the issue linger. The mayor didn’t wring his hands enough to show he cared about those homeowners who complained about damage to their property with the raising of the Bayonne Bridge. Why didn’t the administration pick up that senior citizens were unhappy?

Here’s the one thing that really bothered voters: Smith came across as arrogant and the bully label stuck.

For some reason, the mayor thought it was a big deal when he became chairman of the Hudson County Democratic Organization, a dysfunctional organization, when his total focus should have been in administering to a financially fragile Bayonne. What was Smith’s HCDeadO legacy? He unwisely backed Montclair Sen. Nia Gil over U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez’s choice of Donald Payne Jr. for Congress. Then Smith got involved a losing effort with the Jersey City municipal race, earning Fulop’s wrath, and he led the HCDeadO to a crushing by Gov. Chris Christie. Worse, Smith and company were unapologetic about their choices.

It was the same character flaw, among many, that defeated the administration of former Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy. Even though there’s a Davis trying to unseat Smith, the days of the old Irish sense of entitlement are over. People want a problem solver. Smith wanted more time in office to fix things, but voters want to see something changing for the better. This is why someone like Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop had his crew hit the ground running and, despite some criticism, he pushes hard to see visible changes before his term ends.

Smith is surrounded by people in City Hall who screen callers and visitors demanding to know what business they have. It is an unwelcoming atmosphere. Some political junkies laugh at Fulop always twittering to people or Union City Mayor and state Sen. Brian Stack issuing fliers, but this is their way of making contact with constituents. Despite those occasional bear hugs, you never get the feeling that Smith is a public servant.

Can Smith prove me wrong and resurrect his image and political career? It is only possible if Davis implodes, and he’s done a good job of keeping bad-boy pal Pat Desmond on a short leash.

INSIDER NOTE

-- The third mayoral candidate, Anthony Zanowic, is the most sought after person in Bayonne, today. The runoff candidates want to announce he is endorsing one of them for mayor. It's like trying to hit a 7-10 split. Zanowic was caught talking to Davis on the sidewalk but he remains noncommittal, although he did tell one reporter he's leaning toward Davis - which probably means he'll do the opposite. It should come soon, but does it really mean votes for someone?

-- One other question: Will Fulop flip his endorsement from Smith to Davis? Does Fulop care?

-- One big winner here is Paul Swibinski's Secaucus-based Vision Media firm that supplied Smith with campaign video. A runoff means more video but to get people interested in them, they better be in 3-D.